NIXON’S DAY: It’s a tradition to close...

NIXON’S DAY: It’s a tradition to close the federal government for a day to mourn a President’s death. It also carries a big price tag: $331 million in wages for work not done and overtime pay (A8) . . . . Both of Ventura County’s Navy bases are expecting to release about 25,000 “nonessential” workers for the day of grieving. Postal Service and other federal offices will be closed too, but most state and local government offices remain open.

WHAT A COMMUTE! Futurists say computers will allow more and more workers to telecommute to the office. As technology advances, some types of jobs could be based anywhere in the world, they say. Timothy Riley is living proof. He’s the vice president for sales and marketing of a Tel Aviv-based producer of systems to monitor computer networks. And he just set up U. S. headquarters in Camarillo (Valley Business, Page 12). Why Camarillo? “Because,” Riley said, “that’s where I happen to live.”

LAST SMOKES: Beginning today, Ventura becomes the fourth city in Ventura County to abolish smoking in most public places (B1). . . . Most of Ventura’s City Council members are worried about the health risks of breathing secondhand smoke. In January, they voted to ban smoking in restaurants, offices and even bars if more than a quarter of a bar’s monthly tab comes from the sale of food. Meanwhile, Oxnard leaders today also will consider revising the smoking rules in the county’s largest city.

RUSSIAN MISSION: Tom Kemp, head of the U. S. Committee to Assist Russian Reform, speaks tonight in Camarillo on helping in Russia’s march toward democracy and departure from a military-based economy. . . . The World Affairs Council hopes for an impressive turnout at the Spanish Hills Country Club, said David Baker, who is helping publicize the event. “We want him to call his brother Jack and get him to come to the World Affairs Council,” Baker said. Jack Kemp, the former U. S. Housing Secretary, is a likely presidential candidate in 1996.